On to avrdude, I followed instructions to load initial minipov.h through serial port and this is where the problem starts. When I connect the blinking unit to the serial port, with and without an extension serial cable, the lights stop sequential blinking. No dimmimg as reported somewhere in the forum.typing: make program-minov in my c:\minipov3 directory the following error message appears:

Are you sure the port you are connecting to is COM1?Are you sure that no other driver or application is attached to that port? If you were able to plug a serial mouse in and have it recognized, I would suspect that there is an installed mouse driver that is holding the port.

Nothing shows on device manager when the unit is connected, powered or unpowered.

You are using a real serial port, not a USB/Serial converter. Unlike USB, serial ports are not PnP. The Device manager will show you any serial ports it knows about, but can not automatically 'detect' when anything has been plugged into a port.

If avrdude can't open COM1 it is either because it is not there, or some other application/driver already has it open.

Device manager does not show any serial devices. The modem even disappeared from the listing after disconnecting it and disabling its driver. Is ther a way to find out of other connections other than Device Manager?

On a different matter...

Re-inspecting the board, I noticed an unused connection hole drilled in the PCB to the right of pin 11 of the chip looking from the top of the board and this hole lies on the right outliner of Zener D1 looking from the top. Is that intentional?. There seems to be a connection trace leeding from this unused hole to pins 14 or 15 or 16 of the chip, not visible now due to soldering and flux around these pins.

If I plug in the serial mouse after the computer starts, the mouse is not recognized. However,if I reboot with the mouse plugged in, it is rcognized along with the USB mouse and appears in device manager.

Unbeknonwst to me ,Com1 was loaded by Manufacturer (Dell) since puchase about 10 years ago.Never had any use for that port since the computer came with a USB mouse. So never bothered to look further into it (unless com1 was need for the phone modem?)

My lack of sophistication in communications protocols, porting etc precluded me from recognizing that when Com1 shows a reading in device manager, that a driver was installed and functional even though no physical hardware was attached to the serial port.

As mentioned, Disabling the driver did not liberate Com1 port. Uninstalling did.

It was a relief and pleasure to watch Avrdude proceed past the first line and on to :Done, thankyou.

My turn to thank you Guys,and Ladies, you for your terrific support in resolving this issue.